Track: Zaza has record-setting outing at Burdette meet

Friday, December 28, 2012

Daily Times Staff Reports

Nothing spices up the holidays quite like a meet record. Wellington Zaza decided he'd have a second helping of that Friday.

The All-Delco and hurdler extraordinaire enjoyed a double serving Friday at the Robert J. Burdette Indoor Classic, setting meet records in both the 60-meter hurdles and the triple jump en route to victories in the meet held at Lehigh University.

Zaza's time of 7.99 seconds in the prelims of the hurdles bested his record from a season ago; just for good measure, he erased the standard again in finals with a time of 7.97 that was the fastest in the field by a third of a second. Joseph Ho of Bonner Prendergast (third) and Ian Pollack of Radnor (sixth) also medaled in the event.

In the triple jump, Zaza's leap of 48 feet, 10 inches outpaced the record set by Imani Brown of Reading in 2011. It was the longest jump of Friday's field by three and a half feet.

Zaza's performance was part of a winning day for Delco. His former teammate at Strath Haven, All-Delco Jack Huemmler, won the mile in a time of 4:26.27, while Penn Wood's 4 x 400 relay squad and Cardinal O'Hara's sprint medley team were also victorious.

In the 60 dash, O'Hara's Lamont Veal bested Penn Wood sprinter Shakur Hamilton, with Veal's time of 7.07 seconds good for second, one spot ahead of Hamilton in 7.21. Bonner-Prendergast's Will McDermott was the runner-up in the 3,000, and Penn Wood's Cristian Hunter (400) and Upper Darby's Gregory Dix (800) added third-place finishes.

Among the relays, Penncrest's 4 x 800 team finished in second place with Strath Haven a place behind, while Penn Wood's 4 x 200 team was the runner up to Wissahickon.

Other than Zaza's triumph in the triple jump, the best field finishes Delco could muster were a pair of fourth places from Upper Darby high jumper Cecil Simpson and Strath Haven shot putter Brady Logan.

In the girls meet, Penn Wood All-Delco Caela Williams outdueled Swenson's Tichina Rhodes to take home gold in the 400-meter dash with a winning time of 1:00.05. Sara Dever of Bonner-Prendergast was third in the race, and Ashli Cook of Upper Darby stopped the clock in fourth.

Williams' win was part of a sizeable medal haul for the Patriots. Christina Holmes was third in the 60-meter dash, Lawren Wright was fourth in the 800, and the 4 x 400 relay team claimed second place.

Penncrest had a trio of medal-winning relays with the sprint medley (second), 4 x 200 (second) and distance medley (fourth), while Bonner-Prendergast was third and Springfield fifth in the 4 x 800.

In the field events, Ashley Rankine's jump of 34 feet, 10¾ inches was good for second, while teammate Marie Kabanga was fourth in the shot put, one spot ahead of Springfield's Kaitlyn Baumann.